Yup! Bonus Blog time! FYI: My picture was taken at Two Moon Park at sunrise on Sunday. Yes. I got in big trouble with Mom for being there that early. She doesn’t think my side eye perfected from South Central Los Angeles will cut it. Little does she know… BAHAHA!

Nothing like an IBS attack to help me pull my head out of my ass… Along with a good conversation with someone working for the Lucas Museum.

Huh? I know. Right.

I signed a contract with the Montana State Film Commission in the middle of last year to be a script consultant to consult on movies connected to Montana in some way? And? I’ve been spinning on trying to put together the perfect website to make my grand announcement in a glorious fashion. Cuz dude? This is a huge deal to me!! I fucking love writing. A thing that makes my heart sing!!

And the chance to help others with their writings and films? Jesus wept! I even get paid with a grant. Like holy shit!! Super cool! The crazy part? I’ve been doing this since before I signed the contract for them. It’s been so much fun. My background of reading for the Austin Film Festival for nine years and the Nashville Film Festival along with being a Film Curator for the ReelAbilities – Los Angeles Film Festival? I was also a screener for Nashville. I also read for the Scriptwriters Network Hollywood Outreach Program for three years along with their High Concept contest for two. And I’ll read for them again this year. All helped a ton on top of my indie filmmaking and my Master of Fine Arts in screenwriting. And yup – I’ve won some awards and studied in other places too.

The main Montana film hubs are Bozeman and Missoula. Both have some sort of film program. I’m in Billings with next to nothing here. Heck. You need to go to Bozeman for the only camera store in the entire state. I’m lucky that my used Lumix GH4 keeps on ticking. Nope. I don’t feel that I “shot it out” despite having used it for 12 short films. I’ll eventually graduate to another Lumix to be able to keep my lens. It’s a good one.

Here’s the thing: The Montana Film Commission Office is aware that Montana doesn’t have a robust filmmaking infrastructure for year round filmmaking throughout the entire state. But they give out grants like the one they did to me to help people interested in filmmaking here. They also understand that Montana filmmakers may not be able to live here year round if they want to make films.

As my family lives in Billings, it makes no sense for me to live anywhere but here in Montana. Like they say? Third time is a charm. And yup! I fell in love with Billings this time. That’s how come I wrote my love letter to it in my Billings Blog. I also hate the winter weather in Bozeman and Missoula. Nothing personal. Freezing ass temperatures FOR MONTHS and air inversions aren’t my speed. If I get pollution? I want it to be in Los Angeles like I had for 14 years. No. I’m not going back to Los Angeles for now.

But I’ll be moving in late summer/early fall and find ways to keep on coming back to Montana cuz family. I’ll post more on that soon. AND MONTANA is a fucking cool place with gorgeous scenery. If you want to see God’s Country? Go through Glacier Park. Not only is Yellowstone Park cool? It was the first national park.

Here’s the other part: I’m still going to be setting up films in Montana even when I don’t live here. I’ll also give discounts to Montana stories even after the grant runs out: I want Montana to succeed cuz Montana has been good to me. The least that I can do is help them out and do my part to help them build their film industry no matter where I live. I LOVE LOVE LOVE the salt of the earth attitude around here – get ‘er done!!

CUZ!?! It’s soooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo much easier to film here than Los Angeles. Like a bigger Hollywood movie was just shot at the Moss Mansion. You also can’t forget the Yellowstone stories. OR? Older movies like AN UNFINISHED LIFE or A RIVER RUNS THROUGH IT

And you remember that awesome movie TUCKER AND DALE vs EVIL? I think that it would be hysterical to film something like that near Fromberg. If you’ve seen their downtown? Yup. You’d understand.

You can reach out to me at either darkandjoyproductions @ gmail.com or hello @ darknessandjoy.com for more information. I’m also happy to grab a Zoom to talk more cuz I’ve talked with folks in Texas and Ohio about their Montana stories as well as a bunch of Montana filmmakers and writers.

Whew! I now finally feel like I can breathe and finish my websites.

As always? Have a glamorous day on purpose.

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